1. Field
The following description relates to a technology for generating depth information, and more particularly to a technology for generating depth information by referring to a stereo image.
2. Description of Related Art
Two or more cameras, like the human eyes, can be used simultaneously to take stereo pairs or stereo photos in order to measure depth of and distance to an object. A correspondence point in a particular position in an image taken by one camera can be taken in a different position in another image taken by another camera, depending on distance disparity of stereo cameras. Distance information between a camera and an object can be obtained by using binocular disparity (or disparity) and trigonometry. When two cameras aligned in parallel are used, the optimal value of binocular disparity becomes smaller as it is farther from the camera, and that becomes greater as it is closer. Even though two cameras are not aligned in parallel, 3-dimensional coordinate including depth information of a correspondence point can be calculated from binocular disparity of the correspondence point when relative distance and direction information between two cameras are accurate. A technology for obtaining depth information from two or more cameras is called as stereo vision. A high resolution stereo matching algorithm is not easy to implement in real time because of the amount of calculation required.